Section 2: 1750-1880 -- A Change in Indigenous Demographics
By the 18th century, Spanish occupation of Florida had significantly diminished the state’s original Indian population. Other Southeastern Indian cultures––particularly Creeks from Georgia and Alabama––began migrating into the sparsely populated land in response to economic hardships and the pressures of intense intertribal conflict exacerbated by European contact. These diverse groups--the indigenous Natives still remaining in Florida, those which migrated in, and various communities of escaped African slaves--found themselves negotiating a complex political landscape in which alliances were not always certain.